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How-To Geek

GEEK TRIVIA

Which Arcade Game Was Given A New Name For U.S. Markets Over Fears Of Vandalism?

Space Invaders

Pong

Galaxian

Pac-Man

Answer: Pac-Man

Americans young and old associate the iconic Pac-Man with video gaming without so much as an inkling that the little ghost-dodging yellow ball was renamed just for them. Released in May of 1980 in Japan, the original game was called Puck-Man, a reference to the hockey-puck-like shape of the character.

When Midway Games purchased the licensing rights for the American market later that year, they changed the name to Pac-Man to, wisely, avoid young vandals armed with permanent markers easily changing the game’s name to an obscenity.

People’s love for the game was so strong, however, they might as well have called him Quarter-Eating-Man: by the 1990s, people had dropped $2.5 billion in quarters into Pac-Man machines everywhere.